‘Fat cat’ pay rises for university heads twice that of staff

The basic salary of the principal at Heriot-Watt University is £265,000, compared with £162,000 in 2011. The 64 per cent rise compares with 10 per cent for all staffAlamy

The pay of university principals is rising twice as quickly as the salaries of their staff, leading to claims that senior academics are profiting from a “fat cat culture” common in the private sector.

Research by The Times shows that higher education workers in Scotland have typically endured a real-terms pay cut. Their average annual pay rose to just under £40,000, an increase of 9 per cent between 2011 and last year.

Meanwhile, the average principal received a 20 per cent rise, taking the typical basic salary to more than £250,000 before other perks, such as the use of grace and favour homes or pension contributions, are added.

Staff representatives reacted with anger to the findings, which come as an industrial dispute over lecturers’ pensions…